Thread: stunt the growth of grass?

I have one account whos backyard is outragious! I cut it on a 10 day schedule. Her front and side are normal growth but the back yard will grow a foot in 10 days.
I just went out to cut it today after the long winter. The front grass grew about .5" and the back was literally 3ft in some spots. The back is mainly weeds. She does have a dog back there which leaves me to believe he is fertilizing the lawn. I dont want to lose her because I also have her daughters lawn.
Is there anyway to slow down the growth to make it easier on myself and not harm the dog?

Yes, there are products that are selective herbicides that will do this. The four downfalls are however, are that first, cost factor. This stuff isn't cheap...by any means. Second, while inhibiting the growth of the grass, it can also make the turf grow thicker. Depending on what you are doing now (as far as mowing thickness), could be a disadvantage for you. Third, being a pesticide, you are required to be licensed to apply it. And fourth,..though it works on certain types of grasses, it does not work on weeds.

__________________
Joe

Thank you, Dad - for always being the dad that you were. You truly are my hero. You always were.

Not sure why you are cutting a lawn every 10 days, that obviously need to be a weekly cut. I understand not wanting to loose a client, cuzz of the others that come with it; but seriously can't you just explain to the lady the problem.

So you offer a 10-day schedule as well. Thought I was the only one in the world. But seriously doubt any grass will grow a foot in 10 days, never seen it, something's wrong.

You probably didn't do the last cut in fall and the grass has sprung up big time. Or your cut is set way too high, lower it next time.

So how and why do you guys offer a ten day schedule? Are you forced to due to growing conditions? How do you run it with Sundays and holidays, or three days of rain. What is your advantage, are you making tons more per cut; if so why not just switch to weekly?

So how and why do you guys offer a ten day schedule? Are you forced to due to growing conditions? How do you run it with Sundays and holidays, or three days of rain. What is your advantage, are you making tons more per cut; if so why not just switch to weekly?

You would'nt believe the people around here. Offer them a $25 cheaper service per month and they jump on it. Yes the schedule is harder to keep. You need 3 comparable accounts to rotate, unlike a biweekly that requires 2. Weeklies are fixed and easy.

Monday,Thursday, no-cut, Monday, Thursday, no-cut, Monday .... or same thing with Tuesday, Friday..... so you cut 2-times in 21 days. A 10.5 day schedule if you will.

After 10 days it's not overgrown, can still mulch. It's easier to trim without scalping. You can offer a service 30% cheaper, which people adore here and really looks just as nice as weeklies.

And best of all : NO STUPID PHONE CALLS during dry season. A customer calls at 11pm : "You don't need to come over this week ............. Yet after 10 days there's always something to cut.

on the positive side you could push a 7 day schedule, just be like "i guess i'm just gonna have to cut it every 7 days," ha, see what she says...we also do some 10 day schedules if we have to, and if it's too long i just double cut even if the price sucks, i hate leaving a lawn looking like crap unless it's just really not worth it...you could do chemicals like someone else said but you do need a license, probably not worth it...

oh and the 10 schedule will work you just have to pay a little more attention to it, so if it lands on a saturday either cut it friday or just wait until monday, for me it just depends on the growing conditions at the time...i don't worry about being one day early because it's really their own cheap a$$ fault for not having a 7 day schedule...not my favorite kind of schedule but some people will only do a 10 day schedule...

I dont offer a 10 day schedule. When I first started mowing, my dads friend gave me two accounts that were every 10 days. Eventually I got one more close to them. Because it was 8 miles away, I put the third yard on the 10 day schedule also.
Only reason I keep them is because one of them leads to a good weekly customer. Im not going to travel 8 miles for one lawn so I keep all three in the same neighborhood. Eventually I will put them on a schedual for a part time crew. Just trying to ease my headache on this one. It is literally 1ft after 10 days. No kidding. He daughter back yard is the same way but it is only grass therefore it doesnt grow as tall as the yard with all of the weeds. It must be something they are feeding there dogs.

forget that shiznit! we do monthly down here,that's all. some, i mean some bi-weeklies. i have two out of my 22. the only reason i do it is b/c one i get a lot per cut and the other is in a neighborhood that i have 4 other accounts. im actually going to try and get the 2nd one to switch to monthly b/c i havent cut her in like 5-6 weeks now. since december it was every 3 weeks and we had 2 cold snaps that slowed the heck out of things. if she was a monthly account, id be making my money. in my opinion, bi-weeklies suck.